Episode #18 - Aaron Spivak

#15MinuteFounder

In this episode of 15 Minute Founder, we sit down with the incredible Aaron Spivak, a serial entrepreneur who’s seen it all – from jumping fences for produce to a massive $48 million exit!

In this no-fluff episode, Aaron shares the raw truth about building businesses, the immigrant mindset that fueled his ambition, and why connecting with your customers is the ultimate growth hack.

Highlights from the chat

Q: How did your family’s immigration from Israel to Canada shape your entrepreneurial mindset, and were you born an entrepreneur or did your environment shape you?

My parents immigrated from Israel to Canada with my three older brothers, all under four years old, with no money or refugee status—just hopes to build a better life. I was born in Canada and watched them hustle to put food on the table, starting and failing businesses, my mom driving a school bus, and my dad driving a truck for 28 years.

They didn’t teach me entrepreneurship from books, but I observed their relentless drive to build something from nothing.

That environment shaped me and my brothers to become entrepreneurial. It wasn’t innate—it was watching them grind in real time, even without knowing the language, that laid the foundation.

Q: Is it true you jumped fences at 3 a.m. to buy fresh fruit for your juice business, and why were you doing that?

Yes, at 18, I started a cold-pressed juice company from my mom’s basement in 2011-2012, before juice bars were trendy.

Organic fruit was getting expensive, so I found a food terminal where grocery stores bought produce, but it required a $250,000 yearly membership. I couldn’t afford that, so I’d jump the fence at 3 a.m. when it opened to buy fruit during the three-hour market window.

Vendors noticed I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I convinced one to sell me “ugly” fruit—bruised apples, squishy lemons, avocados grocery stores rejected because they didn’t look perfect. Since I was juicing, appearance didn’t matter.

He started delivering to my house, and that became the foundation of a 10-location, 11-year business that’s still running today.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your juice business?

My mom watched a documentary about a guy who transformed his life with a juice fast. She did a 70-day juice fast, lost 80 pounds, and was glowing.

Her friends noticed and asked what she was doing. We started juicing for them, then their friends, and soon we were juicing for 200-300 people a week out of my house.

It turned into a manufacturing operation, and a year later, we opened our first retail store. Today, it’s a profitable business with 11 locations and over 100 employees.

Q: What sparked the creation of Hush, the company you sold for $48 million, and how did a Google search stat play a role?

I didn’t graduate high school or go to university, so while my friends were partying, I was running my juice business from 6 a.m. to late at night.

At a bar, a friend introduced me to someone with a similar-sized business but only one employee in Croatia, making more profit than me with 60 employees.

He credited “the internet.” We became friends, and a year later, he sent me an article about one in four Americans suffering from insomnia, anxiety, and stress, plus a Google report showing 300,000 monthly searches for “weighted blanket” with only three active sellers.

I bought every weighted blanket available, found flaws—too small, noisy beads, toxic pellets—and redesigned a superior product with better sizing, washable materials, glass sand, and a cooling version.

We worked 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily for a year to launch Hush, which led to a $48 million exit in 48 months.

Q: You didn’t finish high school or attend college. How did that affect you, and what was your brief college experience like?

I played hockey for 20 years, which got me into a top Canadian business school, Schulich, for one class. I was excited to learn about Kickstarters, thinking I could build one during the course.

Two weeks in, I asked the professor for his Kickstarter experience to get ahead. He admitted he’d never done one, which felt like a scam since I’d paid $4,400 for the course.

I tried to get a refund, but the dean refused, saying the professor was an academic, not a practitioner.

I dropped out that day and later launched a successful Kickstarter. Not going to college felt natural—I was already running a business and didn’t face much pressure to conform.

Q: You had no background in manufacturing blankets. How did you develop the product for Hush?

My co-founder trusted me because I’d designed branded juice bags for my company, Revital, which were strong, stylish, and a branding hit.

That was my only product design experience. I applied the same principles to Hush—learning to negotiate with manufacturers, understand production, and leverage them to fund the business.

It’s about mastering the process, not the product. Once you know how to work with suppliers, you can apply it to anything.

Q: You committed to working 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily on Hush. How did you stay motivated when results weren’t immediate?

I’m a huge believer in celebrating every win, no matter how small. Our first sale probably lost money, but we celebrated. Three sales the next day?

We went to dinner, even if it cost more than we earned. We celebrated every milestone—sales, reviews, testimonials—to build momentum.

Without momentum, you’re dead in the water. Our first month was $20,000 in sales, which some might call a failure, but we felt rich. That mentality kept us going.

Things take time, and we were lucky to turn $4,000 into $48 million in 48 months, but most exits take 96-100 months. Celebrating small victories sustained us.

Q: You had “savage clarity” from day one, knowing who would buy Hush and at what multiples. How did you balance that with the uncertainty of new challenges?

My co-founder Leo and I decided on day one who we’d sell to, what they liked to buy, and at what multiples, then reverse-engineered the business to fit that vision.

In year three, we spent a year targeting them—connecting with their board, attending their events, even buying billboards on the CEO’s commute route.

When we met him, he said, “I’m seeing you guys everywhere,” and I said, “I know.” That was intentional. Most founders lack this clarity.

When I ask, “How does your story end?” and they list options like keeping it, selling it, or taking chips off the table, it shows they don’t know what they want.

That lack of focus kills businesses, just like in relationships or health goals. Savage clarity means knowing your endgame and aligning every move toward it.

Q: How do you balance celebrating wins with pushing for more, like going from $20K to a $48 million exit?

It’s about building momentum and having savage clarity. Celebrate every win to keep the fire going—first sale, first review, first testimonial.

But don’t get complacent. From day one, Leo and I knew our exit strategy, who’d buy us, and what they valued. We faced tons of challenges, but we stayed focused on the endgame. You test your mettle in those moments.

Most impressive founders stick to one thing for a long time, ignoring shiny objects or new summits. Hush was just a step toward a bigger impact, not the final summit.

That focus, plus celebrating wins, carried us from $20K to $48 million.

Q: What’s your bigger “why” now, post-Hush, and how does it drive you?

Before Hush, my “why” was providing for my family, which fueled 21-hour days with 45-minute naps. Post-Hush, that box is checked.

Now, my “why” is helping founders avoid the mistakes I made due to lacking the right network. I found my M&A lawyer via Google for a landmark Canadian deal, but I made millions in avoidable errors.

That’s why I started Founders Club 18 months ago for high-growth founders doing $1M-$500M in EBITDA.

It’s a community for like-minded individuals to mastermind, share wins, and test strategies together—not a mentorship or a cult around one hero.

I needed this community when I was younger, and now I’m building it for others.

Q: Does money buy happiness, and how has it changed you?

Money changed me, no question. I spent a year trying not to change, living in my mom’s basement, not spending, but that was a waste.

Money should change you—it’s why you chase it, to live better. If you come from wealth, it might not shift much, but for me, it was transformative.

Does it buy happiness? No, there’s no “happiness” button at the register. It buys time to do what you love. I live my best day every day—playing sports, sweating, hanging with friends, making coffee, connecting with founders.

Money lets me run Founders Club without worrying about profit, but you still have to work on yourself to find happiness.

Q: For someone starting a brand in 2025, what’s the biggest mistake to avoid from zero to $100K?

The biggest mistake is adding too many products and not negotiating proper supplier terms upfront. Without good terms, you lack cash flow for inventory and ads, trapping you in a loop where you can’t afford either.

Test your product with pre-orders before buying inventory—sell to 10-20 customers, message them to confirm demand, and refund if needed.

Then, oversell your vision to suppliers, promising big orders (e.g., millions of units) to secure favorable terms like 120-day net pay. Hush turned $4,000 into $48 million by using a pre-order model and a 120-day net pay from shipping, giving us a negative 30-day cash conversion cycle.

Most founders fail by fighting suppliers for upfront payments, then borrowing at high rates, losing equity, and hating e-commerce.

Q: From $100K to $1M, what’s the biggest mistake to avoid, and how did you spend your time?

The biggest mistake is focusing on ads and forgetting customers. As ads work and sales grow, founders often neglect the customer connection.

I made 2,000 customer calls a month, with 800-1,200 picking up, spending 5-15 minutes to turn them into fans, not just customers. Fans evangelize your brand.

For example, we sold 3,000 pillows in 24 hours because I spent six months calling and emailing 15,000 customers, asking what they wanted in a pillow, sharing prototypes, and involving them in decisions.

They felt part of the story, like I did when a coffee shop added avocado toast at my suggestion. I spent most of my time on customers and product, with an hour or two on ads, which improved as customers loved us more.

Q: How did you manage 60-70 customer calls a day?

Four of us split the calls—nothing was more important. It’s like a restaurant owner greeting guests, not unloading boxes.

We prioritized talking to customers to turn them into fans who’d talk about our product unprompted.

When we opened our first store in Yorkdale Mall, competing with Aloe’s opening, they had 2,000 influencers; we had 1,900 fans, some driving hours or flying in.

That connection, built through one-to-one calls over time, made the chairwoman of the acquiring company notice when I signed a customer’s blanket. That’s how you build a brand.

Q: From $1M to $10M, what’s the biggest mistake, and where did you focus?

The biggest mistake is overspending without understanding your numbers. Founders often don’t read P&Ls, get delayed books, or lack dashboards, leading to shrinking bank accounts despite rising sales.

From $1M to $10M, focus on finances to protect margins. At $0-$1M, you’re profitable with mental math. At $10M, with contractors, staff, ads, subscriptions, and inventory costs, margins erode.

Renegotiate deals—like I did, cutting sticker costs from 20 cents to free, saving $50,000 a month, which fueled $150,000 more in marketing.

I spent time realigning every department’s deals to protect 15-25% margins, critical for scaling to $50M.

Q: From $10M to $50M, what’s the biggest mistake, and where did you spend your time?

The biggest mistake is failing to attract and retain A-players. From $0-$10M, you can outwork others, but from $10M-$50M, you can’t be the best at every function.

You need humility to hire experts costing $250K-$350K, using your 15-20% margins to fund them. Convince A-players to join your rocket ship with autonomy and fair pay.

I focused on my zone of genius—customer and product—while being the team mascot for energy. I hired heads of growth, HR, and marketing, admitting I wasn’t the best at everything.

Community, like Founders Club, helped me find and pay these hires. Without A-players, you can’t muscle to $50M.

Q: What’s the key to exiting a business successfully?

You need to be a professional storyteller, understand your finances, know market multiples, and decide whether to use brokers or bankers.

Assuming a good product and EBITDA will sell your business is ludicrous. You need strategy and the right people guiding you without ulterior motives.

I learned this the hard way, leaving $10-20M on the table due to naivety. Community, like Founders Club, provides unbiased advice to navigate exits.

Q: Who taught you all this?

My mistakes. I was smarter than my friends, but they weren’t on my path—lawyers and doctors weren’t my peers. I thought I had all the answers, but I left millions on the table.

Now, at 30, having invested in many brands, I see all businesses are similar. A text to my network solves problems in 5-10 minutes.

Founders Club connects vetted founders to share goodwill, like when we masterminded a MrBeast commercial win, landing a Target deal by selling the hype early.

Surround yourself with the right people—it’s harder for young entrepreneurs but critical.

Q: How do you drink your coffee, and do you still wake up at 3 a.m.?

Black espresso, straight. No more 3 a.m. wake-ups. I wake with the sun around 7:30, touch grass, play music, do breath work, and hit the paddle court by 8:30.

Meetings start at 10:30, and I eat with friends. That’s the life I worked for—no need to grind like before.

Q: Did you have any balance during the Hush build, and how did you treat your body?

No balance, all in. I regret how I treated my body—severely underweight, working 20-21 hours with two 45-minute naps for four and a half years.

I didn’t eat or sleep properly and barely moved. I could’ve taken better care, but I wanted it so badly. If I’d sold phone cases, I’d have crushed competitors—I knew their lives, expenses, and CPAs, driving theirs up to force them to scale back.

That savage mindset made Hush the #1 weighted blanket globally, with $20M revenue at 20% margins. I DJed weekends, reinvesting every dollar into ads. That guy’s dead now, but he was dangerous and got me here.

Q: What’s your word of the year for 2025, and what does it mean to you?

Simple. Everything must be easy, no complications. At Founders Club, with 27 employees and hundreds of members, I cut through noise. I

f there’s an issue, I find the root cause—like a missed conversation—and fix it simply. My pool guy mentioned algae; I said, “Get the salt cell.”

I simplified my life—one credit card, no wallet, just focus on what matters. That savage mindset is dormant, not dead, giving me confidence to compete with giants like YPO and EO.

I’d rather be a warrior in a garden than a gardener at war.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – The Immigrant Mindset

01:45 – The 3 AM Produce Hustle

05:23 – The Birth of Hush & The $48M Exit

11:32 – The Power of Celebrating Wins

13:53 – Savage Clarity: Engineering Your Exit from Day One

19:19 – From “Why” to Community

22:24 – Does Money Buy Happiness?

27:55 – 100K to 1M: The Customer is King

35:36 – 1M to 10M: Master Your Finances

39:27 – 10M to 50M: Attracting A-Players

43:17 – The Masterclass to Exit.

46:11 – Life Post-Exit & The Savage Mindset

50:03 – Aaron’s Billboard Message